Special Education

Hearing Services Infant Program

Student Disability: Hard of Hearing and Deaf

Student Age: birth to 3

Hearing Services offers a comprehensive, multifaceted program for infants and toddlers who have hearing losses and their family members. The early years are considered crucial for children with hearing losses, particularly for the development of auditory skills and the acquisition of language. Parent education is also an important component of the Infant Program. Parents, as well as other family members and caretakers, are encouraged to participate in their child's program as fully as they can. They learn to facilitate their child's development by making the home a focus of auditory, communication and language activities as well.

Referrals can be made for any child, including newborns, as soon as the diagnosis of a hearing loss is confirmed. An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is prepared for each child, focusing on the development of auditory skills, receptive and expressive language and speech, as well as on all areas of the child's development (socialization, cognitive development, fine and gross motor skills, adaptive functioning). The program has a team of professionals who have extensive experience working with young children who are considered to be candidates for, or who have received, cochlear implants. However, any child with a hearing loss significant enough to warrant the use of hearing aids is considered a candidate for the program.

The curriculum is specifically designed for children with hearing losses to develop auditory skills and stimulate communication and language acquisition. Through structured and natural play and interactive language-based activities, children are taught to become aware of sounds and to learn to attach meaning to them. Teachers and parents then focus upon the production of speech sounds and expressive language. An auditory/oral approach to communication by means of spoken English is encouraged. For those children who need a more multisensory approach to learning, the auditory/oral communication may be paired with signed support, presented by means of signed English.

Home-based and center-based services are the two major components of the Hearing Services Infant Program. Home-based services are based upon Project SKI*HI, a comprehensive home-intervention program for children with hearing losses and their families. Through the SKI*HI curriculum, parents and family members learn about hearing loss, the use of hearing aids and cochlear implants, communication options and the development of language. The home-based model recognizes the importance of helping parents and family members learn to work/play effectively with their child in order to stimulate audition, communication and language skills. A parent advisor is assigned to the family and makes regularly scheduled visits. The focus of these sessions is on the parent/family members, and how best to interact with the child. The parent advisor does not work directly with the child, but instructs, advises, teaches and models activities that the parent/family members can use with the child.

Center-based services are initially provided to children and family members on an individual basis. This affords the family members an opportunity to ask questions, to practice using and troubleshooting the amplification equipment and to observe and imitate the ways in which the staff work with the child. Following this initial period, the staff may continue to work with the child individually or in a small group. Within the toddler groups, emphasis is placed on learning turn-taking skills, social communication and cooperative play, with a continued emphasis on the development of auditory skills and the acquisition of language. Speech therapy services may be provided to the child on an individual pull-out basis or as part of a collaborative instructional model within the classroom.

All resources of the Program for Hearing and Vision Services are available to families enrolled in the Infant Program. The Infant Center psychologist moderates a support group, works with individual families as needed, collaborates with the Department of Health Early Intervention Program and assists the parents with the transition from infant to preschool services. Parents may meet with our team of educational audiologists in order to discuss amplification options, cochlear implant candidacy or changes in hearing status. If the child has not yet acquired personal amplification, our audiologists will work with the family's private provider in order to help determine which amplification equipment is best suited to the child's hearing loss and auditory functioning.

The goal of the Hearing Services Infant Program is to help children achieve age-appropriate language, readiness and social skills, so they can enroll in early childhood activities within their neighborhood. Students who continue to need the specialized expertise of a Deaf Education setting may transition to the Hearing Services Preschool Program, located in the district-based, integrative preschool setting in Levittown.

There is no charge to parents or school districts for the services provided through the Hearing Services Infant Program. Costs are paid by the New York State Education Department through enabling legislation known as the Deaf Infant Act.

Contact:

Judy Gastwirth-Masone, Principal

Leslie David Assistant Principal

Program for Hearing and Vision Services Administrative Offices

W. Tresper Clarke Middle and High Schools

740 Edgewood Drive

Westbury, NY  11590

Phone: (516) 931-8507

FAX: (516) 931-8566

TTY: (516) 931-8596

Hearing Services Infant Program

Karopczyc School

72 Farmedge Road

Levittown, NY  11756

Phone: (516) 414-6150

FAX: (516) 414-6155